Departing from Chesapeake City you need leave at a slack tide just before ebb starts. That meant we should leave about 0800 and we would have a favorable current most of the day. This meant we I could shut the alarm clock off and not be awoken at 0400.... Hurray!

Well this was a good plan... sleeping in... however, at about 0400 Susan was woke me up with screams of.... We're on fire!!! I jumped out of bed and followed her to the engine room... she then said there are no flames... only smoke coming out of the inverter... by the time I got there I could not see any smoke but could smell burning electrical wires... it's horrible smell... especially, when it's coming from your inverter.

After we calmed down I checked the inverter... it was working as far as passing through the shore power but it has a feature to assist the shore power if needed... checking the control panel screen it showed an error that said this feature had failed.... and with it the ability to convert 110 volt electricity from our 12 volt house batteries.

We have another smaller inverter that we could use to power the refrigerator running an extension cord to it from the entertainment center but having an electrical cord running across the floor and up the steps to the galley is not a good idea with Lily running around... so we opted to run the generator once we left the dock.

Anyway, so much for sleeping in... it was now 0500 and I was not going back to sleep after this... I jumped on the computer and found a replacement inverter and ordered it for overnight delivery... being Sunday that meant the order would be processed on Monday and shipped for delivery on Tuesday or Wednesday. We planned to stop and see some friends in Smithfield, VA so set the shipping address for their house in Smithfield... we will get there on Wednesday or Thursday so we should find a new inverter waiting for us when we arrive.

Everything all set and we were ready to prepare to leave at about 0815... still had to top off the water, get rid of the trash... all the normal things we do before we leave each day.... by 0845 we were free from the dock and heading out into the C & D Canal and under the Chesapeake City Bridge... current pushing us at 8.2 knots... very nice!

It was a little rougher than we anticipated today... had 2' to 3' seas as we passed Baltimore area... winds were gusting to almost 30 knots... steady at about 20 knots... forecast was for 10-15 knots... but it was bright and sunny out... first day of the trip that we actually put sunglasses on. Plus with the Generator on we also had the heat on so it was very toasty warm as we cruised.

We actually, saw the first recreational cruising boats today... one power boat heading north and several sailboats heading south... was great to see some other people moving... and virtually no fishermen... that was particularly nice.

We arrived to our destination at Herrington Harbor South Marina and were securely docked at their fuel dock at 1730. We will top off the fuel tanks here in the morning. Our location for the night N38°43.584’, W076°32.549’. We traveled today for 8 hours and 45 minutes covering 62.4 nautical miles averaging 7.1 knots.

Weather forecast for upper Chesapeake Bay was not that great so we decided to spend an extra day here in Chesapeake City. It's not a bad place to hang out... get to watch the commercial traffic pass by... you feel it coming long before it reaches you... the boat pulls away form the dock and you hear the dock lines creaking as they stretch... then you see the ship passing by.

Alarm went off this morning at 0400 and it felt like we had just gone to bed… we had another long day planned so we were off early… leaving Atlantic City at 0500. Forecast for NW 5-10 knot winds, less than 1 foot seas and partly cloudy.

That was the forecast but you never know... We cleared the inlet and found the forecast for winds and seas were spot on. It was nearly flat calm... Hurray. It was too early to tell if the partly cloudy was going to be accurate. The sunrise was sure beautiful.

Just before Cape May we passed something that was totally unbelievable. We were about 3 miles offshore and we passed a paddle boarder. 45 degrees out and 3 miles from shore... REALLY ?? He did not even have a wet suit on... SHORTS. At least he was wearing a PFD. But was he doing do far from shore ???

Today we were not disappointed with the number of fishermen out... they may have taken Thanksgiving Day off, but were out full force today. I thought we had all the fishermen behind us as we entered the inlet going into Cape May. However, we came upon one straggler that decided to anchor right in the middle of the channel... and of course he selected the narrowest part of the channel and it was low tide. I thought as he saw us approaching he might decide to move but instead he waved us to go around him. Looked like there was plenty of water per the chart so I adjusted our course to move around his stern... this was a mistake... saw the depth sounder drop from 12 feet to 6 feet real fast... we did not hit the bottom but we picked up some debris from the bottom and fouled the port prop... CRAP! Managed to get back into deep water but we had lost all propulsion on the port side. I continued down the channel on one engine and pulled into the Canyon Club Resort Marina and tied up to their fuel dock.

Friday after Thanksgiving the marina was closed… thought I might be able to get a short haul out and clear the prop... Not happening... called TowBoatUS and they suggested the same thing a short haul as they did not have any divers available. A short haul was not going to happen till Monday. So, I dug out my dive gear and took a quick... VERY QUICK dive under SAILS... Water temperature 47°... BRRRRRR!

Found a huge piece of shrink wrap material totally encasing the prop... five to ten minutes and the prop was clear and I was FROZEN!! Nice hot shower and an hour later we were back underway.

The reminder of the day was uneventful... Delaware Bay, Delaware River and the C & D Canal were glass smooth... had a nice boost from the current all the way to the C & D Canal... then the brakes came on... dropping from 8+ knots to 5 knots... hate when that happens but hard to complain when the current was pushing most of the day.

We arrived to Chesapeake City and pulled into docked at the city docks at 2045. Our position for the night at N39°31.638’, W075°48.666’. We traveled today for 14 hours and 30 minutes covering 99.4 nautical miles averaging 6.9 knots.